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Friday, 16 January 2015

Sentinels Of Varnuse 2: Wind Walkers [3]

#3.

Dominic grunted for the umpteenth time since they
had risen that morning and they were already three hours into the day. He was
already tired of the two men who he’d been sent after. It’s seemed they couldn’t
go five minutes without sniping at each other. And for some reason Vayne wasn’t
happy about Dominic’s mate and brother tagging along. Crimson and Nico were
bird shifters and descendants of the Aarondyte line—albeit a side line of descendants—but
still should have been treated with more respect. They had enough of the
Aarondyte lineage running through their blood to count as possible sentinel
mate, Dominic wondered if Nico was also destined to mate with one of his fellow
sentinels. His thoughts were interrupted when Vayne glared at him and snarled.

“Oh, for the love of…” Vayne trailed off as the
shout of pain came from behind them on the trail, “Go and get your idiot of a
mate and his sibling before they cause themselves some real harm, or announce
to everyone within a hundred mile radius exactly where we are.”

Dominic grinned; he’d wondered earlier how much it
would take for Vayne to crack—now I know.
It hadn’t surprised him when he realised Crimson had followed him. What shocked
him was the fact that he’d dragged his brother along for the journey. They’d
all left the shifter village three days ago, and with every step he took he
wanted to turn around and rush back to Crimson and beg him to come away with
him. Now he was glad that he didn’t have to do it, he’d been sent after Vayne
and Arron for a reason, maybe this was it—maybe he’d been sent along just so he
could find his mate—maybe this was what Lucas had meant about his destiny.

“I swear if they slow us down I’ll kill them
myself.” Vayne growled again just as Arron punched him hard on the arm.

Arron frowned at Vayne. “You won’t touch one hair
on either of their heads, especially not Dominic’s mate.”

Dominic chuckled at their squabbling as he slipped
away into the forest behind. For two men who were supposed to be mated, they
sure didn’t act like it most of the time. If Arron said the sky was a nice
shade of blue then Vayne would immediately argue that it was red. He honestly hoped
his mating with Crimson Redhawk was not going to be as volatile. All he’d ever
wanted was to be loved and be loved in return—was that too much to ask for?

Dominic quickly climbed the nearest tree as he
waited for his mate to catch up. When they were almost underneath him he swung
down somersaulting to land on his feet before them. He grinned at the shocked
looks they both wore.

“Holy Shit!” Nico clutched at the shirt covering
his chest. “You scared the ever-loving crap out of me.

At first Crimson didn’t say anything. A beautiful
blush seemed to ghost over his mate’s skin as he bodily launched himself into
Dominic’s arms and clung tight. The only thing Dominic could do was wrap his
mate up in his arms and hold him in return. He could breathe a little easier
now knowing his mate was close at hand where he could protect him.

“You left without me.” It was a simple statement
which tore at Dominic’s heart.

Dominic tightened his embrace fractionally. “I know,
and I’m so sorry about that. I shouldn’t have done it.”

“No you shouldn’t have.” Crimson retorted with a
snort. “It would have been so much easier if we just left with you.This place
is dangerous.” He ended as he gestured to the forest around them. “Do you know
how much stuff in this place can hurt you?” Crimson went on.

Dominic picked up his mate and headed back to where
Arron and Vayne waited. He didn’t have to look or say anything to know that Nico
was following them. When he’d spoken to Nico back at the village he’d found out
how close the siblings were.

He shook his head in dismay as he stepped into the
clearing when he realised Vayne and Arron were still arguing. Vayne abruptly
cut off what he was going to say and stared at Crimson in his arms.

“Is he hurt?”

Dominic shook his head.

“Then who was making all that noise?” Vayne
demanded.

“That would be me.” Crimson glared at Vayne. And
Dominic smiled as he watch his waif like man face off against Vayne who was
quite clearly three times the bird shifters size. Crimson’ voice jumped an
octave. “Do you know how much scary crap lives in this forest? Sometimes it
just jumps out and hits you for no apparent reason.”

Vayne seemed to be watching Crimson with a slightly
bemused look on his face. Arron on the other hand was openly grinning.

Nico chuckled and stated. “He was bitching and
moaning about never catching up to Dominic and walked into a tree because he
wasn’t watching where he was going.”

Dominic laughed softly only to have Crimson turn
his pissed off glare in his direction. Oh his mate had fire in him. Dominic
like that—a lot.

“Laugh it up chuckle boy, one of these days the
great ones will come back to our world and Karma will bite you on the arse.”

“Great ones?” Vayne suddenly asked, and by the look
on his face Dominic knew something of importance was happening.

“Yes, the great ones.” Crimson shrugged, “Shifters
might be known as the old ones, but we’re descended from the great ones. They’re
the ones of our kind who can shift into all beasts. Their true beast form is
that of the dragon. The one true ruler of all the phases of the elements.”

Dominic let Crimson slide down his body until his
mate was standing in front of him. Not willing to let Crimson move too far away
from him he wrapped an arm around his mate’s waist so Crimson’s back was flush
against Dominic’s chest. “How do you know all of this?”

Crimson stepped out of his embrace, turned to him
and rolled his eyes. “Because I can read. All shifters are taught at a young
age about the greatest creature in the world. We learn it because it is part of
our heritage.”

“What else do you know about these great ones?”
Vayne demanded, though Arron looked just as curious about what the answer might
be.

“Well, I know there’s reportedly only one of the
great ones left in all existence. I know some guy named Tondran had him in his
grasp and then lost him. I know Tondran is now on the exact same quest you guys
seem to be on. I know Tondran left his son in charge of his compound.”

“Not anymore.” Arron said quietly. “The last I saw
of Ormand he was most assuredly dead.”

“Huh, I wonder how that happened.” Crimson said in
a thought filled voice.

“Could have had something to do with the dirty
great knife that Arron ran through him.” Vayne said with a proud smile—it would
seem Vayne did have at least some feelings for his mate.

Dominic, Nico and Crimson all stared at Arron in
opened mouth disbelief. The forest fell silent as if it knew to make no noise.
It seemed like a lifetime of heartbeats passed before they cracked up laughing.

“Guys I’m serious. Arron really did kill Ormand.”
Vayne snarled.

“I know,” Crimson howled with laughter, “That’s
what makes it so funny.”